National Signing Day has passed, and so too has Alabama’s incredible run of seven consecutive No. 1 college football recruiting classes.

Alabama finishes with what will likely be the country's No. 6 class — its first class to finish outside the top five since 2007. Meanwhile, Georgia and Kirby Smart — who, it’s important to note, is Alabama’s former defensive coordinator — claimed a class that, on the surface, ranks as one of the best of all time.

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Here’s what befell the Tide in this recruiting cycle — and what they’ll need to combat in the future, if they want to reclaim that recruiting title.

Kirby Smart

Alabama has several new coaches to compete against in the fertile recruiting grounds of the South — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt and Florida State’s Willie Taggart — but no coach had as big an impact on Alabama’s recruiting in 2018 as Smart. The former Alabama defensive coordinator was one of Saban’s most successful and influential recruiters, helping the Tide get off the ground in 2007 and working to maintain an incredible streak of top classes.

Now, the very factors that made Smart such a recruiting force for Alabama — his influence, charisma and ruthlessness — make him the Tide’s biggest competitor on the recruiting trail. If you need confirmation on his ability to recruit against Alabama, you need only look at a story that came from the Tide’s camp before their meeting in the College Football Playoff national championship: Many within Alabama’s program feel Smart showed mutual targets a picture of Alabama’s big board — telling them they were low on Alabama’s priority list — and using that as a tactic to flip prospects.

While that report hasn’t been confirmed, it’s exactly the type of maneuver that could help a team finally beat Alabama on the recruiting trail.

Early signing period

Saban hasn’t been shy about sharing criticism of the early signing period, particularly the strain it puts on coaches’ time as they prepare for bowl games and, potentially, conference championships.

While that may be true, it also removed one of his greatest weapons: Flipping prospects late in the recruiting process. Players’ ability to sign with teams in December not only removed Alabama’s ability to flip them before National Signing Day, but also allowed competing schools to showcase their early signing period haul as a means to lure even more recruits.

If Saban wants to truly compete for a top spot in future classes, he’ll need to take lessons from 2018 and learn to navigate the early signing period.

Alabama couldn’t close on recruits

Adding to Alabama's (relative) struggles in 2018 was the fact they couldn't close on recruits for whom they were still in contention on National Signing Day. The Tide took an about-face in 2018 from their typically strong finishes, with several targets either flipping their commitments or otherwise going against projections.

Three Alabama defensive commitments (Vernon Jackson, Bobby Brown and Quay Walker) all decommitted from the Tide: Brown and Jackson flipped to Texas A&M, while Walker went with Georgia.

Elsewhere, Justyn Ross, the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama, spurned the favored Tide and went with Clemson. Alabama was a finalist for two other top recruits in Olaijah Griffin and Jacob Copeland, though they ended up choosing USC and Florida, respectively.

It seems Alabama got a taste of its own medicine in 2018.

Coaching turnover

High school prospects are told to choose programs, not follow coaches. But it's impossible to put aside the relationships they build with coaches during the recruitment process and, in many cases, they can be the difference between a player honoring their commitment and signing elsewhere. It's easy to see, then, why coaching turnover can negatively affect a team's ability to maintain those relationships.

Now consider that Alabama has had four offensive coordinators (Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Brian Daboll and Mike Locksley) and three defensive coordinators (Smart, Jeremy Pruitt and Tosh Lupoi) since the start of the 2016 calendar year. While that seemingly hasn't had an adverse effect on the on-field product, it may have done a number on the Tide's ability to maintain those all-important relationships.

It's part of the game at every major college football program: Successful assistants will capitalize on the team's success and move on to greener pastures. But the fact several high-profile coaches have left Alabama's ranks in such a short period of time definitely adds another recruiting hurdle for it to overcome.

Negative recruiting

At 66 years old, Saban is college football’s fourth-oldest coach, leaving many to wonder exactly how much longer he intends to stay in Tuscaloosa.

Saban, of course, has said he will keep coaching the Tide “as long as he enjoys it” and continues providing “the right stuff” for the program. But his age will be the No. 1 target opposing coaches use to steer prospects away from Alabama. The fact Saban has four former assistants coaching in the league will be a factor as well.

Consider this: Jackson Carman, the No. 2 offensive tackle in the 2018 recruiting class, claimed Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Urban Meyer was in the “back half of his career,” which potentially helped Clemson land the five-star prospect. Meyer, 53, is 13 years younger than Saban.

All’s fair in love, war and recruiting, and using negative tactics is just one of myriad weapons programs will use to secure a commitment. There’s no doubt several coaches used those very tactics on Saban in 2018. And those tactics won’t go away as he continues his Alabama tenure.